What Happens When A Church Begins To Pray?

So what does happen when churches pray?  They begin to experience a revival of the Holy Spirit working through them to be his witnesses with power and boldness!  In Acts 1:4-2:4 Jesus commands his disciples and apostles to go wait in Jerusalem until the Promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, comes upon them.  Then when it comes they will receive power. 

The disciples were obedient to Jesus and there in Jerusalem they waited and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  Ten days later that promise was fulfilled and God's power came through the Holy Spirit.

A church body that wishes to be obedient to the mission that Christ gave us must understand that we are totally unable to to accomplish it threw our own power and strength.  The mission is to big and to difficult for us to do on our own.  This is a mission that only God can accomplish.  It is a mission that requires power that only comes from Heaven. 

When a church becomes desperate for God's empowerment that church will begin to pray.  As that church prays to God, in his timing, God answers their prayer and provides the Filling of the Holy that provides the Divine power to be his witnesses. 

We can learn some things from the disciples about how to pray for this empowerment that the Holy Spirit provides.

First, they were PERSISTENT in their prayers. 

The Bible says in Acts 1:14 that they all joined together CONSTANTLY in prayer.  Their prayers were constant!  They didn't just pray for a little while and then went home.  They were persistent in crying out to God to provide the Holy Spirit and his power just as Christ had promised.  Their persistence showed that they were desperate for this empowerment.  They truly wanted it and they were not going to stop praying until God provided it.

• How desperate are we for God's empowerment? 
• How long will be wait and continue to pray for this empowerment? 
• Are we putting time limits on God to provide this power? 
• And if God does not provide it when we think it should be provided are we going to quit and stop our prayers for it?

God wants us to be so desperate and resolved in waiting on God for this empower from the Holy Spirit that we are determined to not quit or stop in our prayers for it until God provides it.  Our prayers need to be desperate and constant for God to empower us.

Second, This was not just persistent prayer but it was a UNITED prayers. 

All of the disciples were together praying for it.  None of them were willing to leave.  They join together in unity, as a body of believers to cry out to God for his empowerment. 

Churches that experience God's empowerment are churches that are united together in their prayers to God for it.  It requires more than just a hand full of church members crying out to God for it.  It requires that whole church, in one accord, asking God for it.  How committed as a whole church family are we in seeking God's power through the Holy Spirit. 

In order for this kind of commitment and unity to happen churches, as a whole body, need to be broken and humbled before the living God.  They need to put away their own agenda's, their own goals and seek only what God is doing.  When a church is broken and humbled then they are ready to be melted and formed into the usable vessel that God desires.

Third, These disciples offered their supplications before the Lord. 

In other words they were begging God to provide what he had promised.  They were truly desperate for his empowerment. 

• Do we beg God? 
• Are we crying out to God? 

Here is an interesting thought!  These followers didn't just talk about prayer, they actually prayed!  Church we need to do more praying and less talking about prayer.  We need to actually come before the thrown of God's grace and stop just talking about doing it.  The power comes not when we talk about it but when we actually pray for it.

THE RESULTS:  

And when God answered their prayer it came with POWER from HEAVEN.  Not earthly power.  Not man made power.  But it came with Heavenly power. 

The power effected everyone who was there.  It wasn't just a few that got touched.  Everyone present was affected by it.  This is a good reason why Christians should make it a priority to constantly participate in the prayer vigils of their church.  Because when the power comes you don't want to miss it. 

The power came through the Filling of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of the Living God didn't just come to live in them but to also live through them.  The power of God is the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, living his life through us.  God's power is God himself! To receive the power of God is to have an experience with God himself. 

All who were there and who were filled with the Holy Spirit began to witness about Christ and 3,000 people were saved and baptized.  Now that is something that only God can do!  But it is also something that God can still do through us if we are willing to be a church that prays for God's empowerment.

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOD’S PEOPLE!

This is a question that the People of God have been asking throughout the ages!  It is as if we are looking for that one and only answer that will bring clarity and understanding to the sadness we are experiencing.  Many people feel that if they can understand the “Why” question it will bring peace to their hurting heart.  But that to is a futile pursuit because peace doesn’t come from understanding a concept but through the love of a particular individual.

However, that’s not to say that gaining Biblical understanding about this topic is useless.  It’s not!  It just provides little benefit for gaining peace to deal with the pain.  And if you are looking for that one, and only one, explanation to why bad things happen to good people you’re going to become frustrated.  This question does not have just one answer.  The answer is multi-faceted!  

The theme of this question is particularly important to those who are intentionally living a missional life and shining the Light of Christ in their part of this dark world!  Why?  Because in the pursuit of Christ’s mission people will experience bad things, difficult times and seasons of sadness that will need to be dealt with. 

 Jesus said it best,

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

In this verse, Jesus was preparing his disciples for that inevitable reality that in these sinful world trials and tribulations can be expected if one is intentionally pursuing God’s mission.  Being on mission with Christ isn’t glamorous or a fairy tale story.  The pain, the suffering and the horribly bad things that happen to God’s people are real and raw.  This missional life isn’t an afternoon on a picnic – it’s a war zone where the forces of evil are being engaged by the People of God. 

 And because of that, we need understand that bad things do happen to God’s people and we need to prepare ourselves for when that season of life befalls us. 

 So, in this post I am going to share 4 reasons why bad things happen to God’s people but then I am going to share where one can find the peace and strength they need for going through that painful time!

4 REASONS WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO

GOD’S PEOPLE!

REASON #1:  Because Of Stupidity

In 2 Kings 6:1-7 we read about a story of a man who had an axe with an iron head.  As the man was swinging the axe, the iron head flew off, landed into a deep river and sank to the bottom.  The man cried out to the prophet, told him what had happened and then shared that the axe was borrowed from a friend.  Luckily, this story had a happy ending through a miracle that the prophet performed by throwing a stick into the water and the iron axe head came floating to the top. 

 But here’s the point! The man who had borrowed an axe with an iron head had borrowed an extremely expensive piece of farming equipment and maybe because he wasn’t as careful as he needed (not checking to make sure the iron axe head was secure) a potentially very bad thing happened. 

 Was the man trying to be harmful or do something bad?  Absolutely not!  It was an accident!  Here’s the point: Bad things sometimes happen simply because it was an accident. No one was trying to hurt you. But for whatever reason it happened.

 How many times have we heard of a car full of teenagers driving down the road and enjoying life get into an accident where people are severely injured or killed?  It happened not because someone was trying to do a bad thing but because of a lack of judgment and too much playing around in the car and the driver didn’t give their full attention to the road.  As a result, the people’s lives were forever altered. 

 Were they trying to hurt people?  No!  It was negligence – it was stupidity! 

 REASON #2: Because Of Sin 

The reality is that some bad things that have happened to us are a direct result of sinful living. Not all - but some!  In the Book of Genesis we are taught that death enter into the world because of rebelling against God. God told Adam that on the day he ate of the forbidden tree he would die. 

 Sometimes it’s our own sin that causes us to have problems.  Because we decided to use drugs, we end up dealing with a lifetime of physical problems. Because we’ve mistreated our wives, we end up divorced and all alone at the end of life. Because we chose a life of crime, we end up in prison.  And this list could go on and on.

 Other times it’s not our sin that causes us to suffer but the sin of another person.  Many times innocent people experience bad things in their life because of someone else’s sin.  How many times in recent history have we heard about a lone gunman going onto a school campus and begin shooting.  It wasn’t the sin of any of the students that got shot that caused this to happen. It was the sin of one person who decided to do a horrible thing.  What sin did the people in the Twin Towers commit that caused that horrific tragedy?  It was the sin of those terrorists who decided to take innocent lives.  Because of another persons sin many experienced the pain of a loved one who will never come home.

 REASON #3:  Because The World’s Under A Curse

 In Genesis 3:17 we read an interesting explanation about why bad things happen to, not only to God’s people but also to all people. 

“To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.”

 Did you read that?  It said that because of Adam this world we live in is cursed!  God placed a curse on this world that we live in and as a result, it doesn’t respond the way it was originally designed.  It has flaws and is broken.  The result being: floods, tornados, hurricanes, tidal waves, droughts and more. 

Any kind of natural disaster you can think of that, kills and ruin the lives of thousands happen because our world is cursed.  And Jesus tells us that as this world comes closer and closer to the Last Day, Judgment Day, these natural disasters will increase and intensify.  The intensification of these events is part of the birth pains that signal Jesus’ return.

 REASON #4:  To Manifest The Works Of God

 This last reason might actually be the hardest explanation for some people to accept! This reason, though Biblical, goes against many of our comforting thoughts about the nature of God.  Let look at John 9:2-12 and see what it says,

“And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ‘We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ‘While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.’  When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So, he went away and washed, and came back seeing. Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, ‘Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?’ Others were saying, ‘This is he,’ still others were saying, ‘No, but he is like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the one.’ So they were saying to him, ‘How then were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is He?’ He said, ‘I do not know."

 Did you catch the reason why this man was born blind?  It was done so that the WORKS OF GOD MIGHT BE DISPLAYED IN HIM! 

 Why does do some bad things sometimes happen to God’s people? Because God wants to use that bad thing to demonstrate His power, glory and might.  They happen so that others, seeing God’s mighty works, can learn to put their faith in God.  God allows them so that in some way He can push His mission forward and hasten the coming of His Kingdom to earth. 

Do you think I just might be wrong?  Then ask Paul and Silas if God was willing to allow them to be whipped, beaten and thrown into jail in the city of Philippi so that a jailer and His family could be saved and baptized!

 Throughout the Bible, we see story after story where God has allowed His people to suffer and experience tremendous pain so that His will would be done. 

But let me end this post by saying that the comfort that we seek doesn’t come from understanding why bad things happen!  There is only one place where we can experience the comfort and peace our hearts desire when bad things happen to us!  That place is in the presence of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

 Jesus himself is the only one who can give us what we want.  Jesus said,

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NIV)

 See!  Jesus said that in him we would find the peace we need! And it also says that we can take heart because He has beaten the world! 

OUR PEACE IS NOT FOUND IN THE EXPLANATIONS OF WHY SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS!

 OUR PEACE IS FOUND IN CHRIST ALONE!

The #1 Problem To Fulfilling Great Commission?

Today we are going to look at what's been the problem to fulfilling Great Commission!  

What's been holding us back?  Could it be:

1. Money?
2. Time?
3. Persecution?

Watch this video to find out Jesus' answer and His solution!

Now that you know what the problem is what will you do about it? How will you respond? Decision is yours!

The Chocolate Chip Cookie/Prayer Outreach Strategy

Jesus said on the Sermon On The Mount,

"Let your light so shine before men in such a way that they see your good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven."  Matthew 5:16

In other words we are to do good things for other people in a way that God gets the credit for it and that includes outreach.  The Chocolate Chip Cookie/Prayer Outreach Strategy is one powerful way to do something nice for people and do it in a way that God gets the glory and so a "Door of Opportunity" might open to share the Gospel.  

This is a simple strategy that anyone can do. It would be a great activity for an Ordinary Christian to do in their own neighborhood.  It can be used to reach out into other neighborhoods to see which homes God is at work in.  

The first video explains how it works and the other three video are short testimonies of people who taught to do it and went out that same day and did. They will share their experiences in doing it with you.  

So what do you think?  

• Can you bake up some chocolate chip cookies, take them over to some neighbors house, share with them that God loves them and you care about them, ask if there's anything going on in their lives that you can pray for them about, and then pray for them?  
• Can you do that?  SURE YOU CAN! SO GO SHINE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST AND LET GOD GET THE GLORY!

 

What Kind Of Christian Are You?

When it comes to powerful missional living the integrity of the Follower of Christ is everything. Depending on what kind of Christian they are will determine the power and success of their missional ventures.

In today Missional Living Devotional you will get a chance to evaluate and answer that question for yourself.  We will be looking at a true story from the word of God to gain the understanding of what I mean when I ask the question, "What Kind Of Christian Are You?"  Take a few minutes and watches this devotional and then make plans on how you will go and shine the Light of Christ in your part of this dark world.